英詩教學中整合"美學欣賞的觀點"與"求知式的閱讀"

Abstract

In recent years, the pendulum of poetry teaching has swung between two extremes: the conventional critical-interpretation approach and the untraditional response-based method. The critical-interpretation approach overemphasizes the importance of transmitting the knowledge of poetic conventions to students in order to develop their capability of comprehending and evaluating literary merits. On the other hand, the response-based method highly underscores the aesthetic stance students take in appreciating poetry to generate a unique, personal, and affective experience with literature. In this study I propose coordinating aesthetic stance with efferent reading in teaching poetry. A sample demonstration of teaching Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” is provided to illustrate the suggested dualistic model of poetry instruction. The model suggests that in order for teachers to develop a genuine passion for reading poetry in students, it may be not productive to engage students in the formal analysis of poems before the poems have been personalized. Only after students have experienced aesthetic participation with literature can they cultivate a life-long interest in poetry.